This weekend our family celebrated two years of living in China! We decided last year that each year on our arrival date to China (Sept. 4) our family would celebrate together what we've experienced over the preceding year. So when we asked the kids how they would like to celebrate this year, we weren't too surprised when they suggested a trip to the zoo again (we went last year, and the zoo continues to be their favorite spot to frequent!). We decided to celebrate on Saturday rather than Sunday (which was technically our anniversary date) so that we could have the full day, rather than just a short window of time (Sundays always seem to fly by for us as we leave for our international fellowship at 9:30 and don't get home until around 1:30 if we grab lunch--usually at McDonalds--on our way home).
When we arrived at the zoo, I immediately foresaw a potential problem--lots of people! There were cars parked all along the street, blocks before you even got to the entrance. I gave the kids riding in the back of the three wheeler a little pep talk about the crowds and high likelihood of lots of photo opportunities, as well as a reminder of how we were called to be kind and love all those around us--and received the usual, "Yeah, yeah. Got it, Mom. We know." I was totally surprised to find out that in spite of the large number of people at the zoo, my 4 little ones weren't the main attraction at any of the exhibits we visited! The kids had a ball feeding the animals in the petting zoo area for quite some time before moving on to the hippos.
Unfortunately at the hippo exhibit, we had a little mishap. Kevin had just lifted Hudson up onto a fence-type structure when Hud lost his balance and fell forward. His face stopped his fall, as he collided with the metal poles intended to keep people out and the hippos in. We immediately saw that the gash on his eyebrow was pretty wide and seemed to be quite deep. We had a plethora of kind Chinese people rush to our aid--offering band-aids and all sorts of advice. After we got his wound cleared up and the damage assessed, Kevin and I were both pretty sure he needed stitches, so I made a call to the international clinic that is in town. Unfortunately, they have changed their policy so that they now only see members (before you could come one time without a membership)--and members, we are not! I was somehow able to talk one of the doctors into pulling some strings for us and got the receptionist to agree to let Hud in the door. Kevin (quickly!) rode him over to the clinic, and there it was determined that giving him stitches was not the best option (the wound was wide enough that giving him stitches probably would have left a worse scar). So Hud recovered quickly, got ice cream on the way home for his bravery, and now is proudly sporting a different band-aid each day on his eyebrow. No doubt he is going to have one more scar, which ironically mirrors almost perfectly the one he has had for the last 2+ years on his OTHER eyebrow--the one he has from stitches her received after jumping off of a sofa and into the edge of a coffee table! And the blows just keep on comin'...
The other 3 kids and I stayed at the zoo and finished up our afternoon for another few hours before returning home for rest time. One of my favorite moments was when the kids visited the gorilla that we have seen before and were able to get him to dance with them! We've seen before that he enjoys mimicking the people he sees on the other side of the glass, so when Eli started kicking his feet and swinging his arms, the gorilla was only too pleased to join in the fun--much to the amusement of every person standing around or passing by!
We let the kids pick the dinner menu--and were surprised that they chose jiaozi again over pizza! We then did our favorite evening past time, walking to our local market store (about a 10 minute walk) to buy ice cream (or popsicles). The last photo is in front of the market store (with a view of one of my favorite fruit vendors behind them). We all agreed, our 2nd anniversary was a fun-filled day in which we were able to recount MUCH for which we are thankful!
